The Holocron
by Dark Lord Volk'land
Summary: Over 3,000 years ago a Jedi Master had a vision of a dark time for the Galaxy. In order to prevent chaos and the disturction of the Jedi Order he left be hind a Holocron to guide the way of the young man who would decide the Galaxies fate. Now millenia later his legacy is about to be discoved and change the fate of one man and though him the universe.
1. Chapter 1

A/N

This is one of a hand full of ideas that have been bouncing around in my head for a while, so please don't be harsh. As many will notice I made Anakin a few years older than canon in Phantom Menace, I did this because I thought that he would appear more mature and genuine when he finally meets with the council. That said enjoy my idea of the story of what could have happened.

I own nothing, it all belongs to George.

The Holocron

Prologue

Anakin looked around in desperation at the cliff walls looking for a cave, an alcove, something for him to get himself directly out of the sand storm that had blown up around him.

'This is just perfect,' the 8 year old boy thought. Watto just had to have that hyperdrive generator. This had all started because the Jawa tribes of the Western Dune sea had a reasonably hard to find Nubian hyperdrive and Watto just had to add it to his growing stockpile of Nubian parts.

Pulling a scrap of cloth up to his face he set out looking for some form of shelter from the storm. He had been looking for nearly 15 minutes when a gust of wind slammed into him so hard that he hit the cliff face knocking him to the ground. Looking up he saw a hole in the rock big enough for him to crawl into. The repulser sled was hidden in a small crevasse back up the canyon and should be fine until the storm lifted, so he worked his way into the small cave hoping that he would be able to last the freezing temperatures of the desert night.

As he made his way deeper into the cave the walls widened out into a large chamber, which looked like it had been carved out of the rocks eons ago. Reaching in his pack he retrieved his glowrod, casting light into the room he could make out a long slab of rock on a raised dais near the rooms rear. Next to the slab was an old vacuum sealed crate but otherwise the room appeared to be empty. Approaching cautiously he approached the slab.

On top of the stone slab lay a black box and being a curious 8 year old boy he lifted the lid without thinking. The lid lifted to reveal a carved crystal cube about 6 cm on each side, that shown with an inner violet glow. Again being an 8 year old boy and unaware of the possible consequences he picked up the cube to examine it further. That's when it happened, the glow intensified and in an instant a holographic man dressed in dark robes was standing atop the cube.

"Greetings youngling, I'm Revan, Gatemaster to the Solari Holocron," the Man spoke in a rich educated voice. "Ask your questions. But be forewarned that I will not take the reasonability of any of your foolishness if your master asks where you learned what I teach you."

"A master? My master is a trydarian named Watto, he doesn't care what kind of stuff I learn."

"Really? I didn't think that the Jedi standards would fall so low."

"What do you mean Jedi?" Anakin was getting confused.

"I mean your Jedi teacher boy, what did you think I meant when I mentioned your master?"

"Oh, well I'm a slave." Anakin looked down to the floor.

"Ah, well I sure as hell didn't expect that to be the case." The hologram straitened himself and looked around the room. "Well then, I guess that I will have to teach you from square one them wont I?"

"How? You're just a hologram."

"I have been a Jedi Master, a Sith Lord, a soldier, a prisoner, and then at the end of my life I was what I have always been, a warrior of the Force." The image of the shifted from his robed from to show him in dark battle armor draped in robes similar to what he had been wearing before only this time he wore a helm with a T'ed visor. "My name was Revan, and in my youth I called to war. The Jedi called me the Revanchist, the Mandilorians called me the Butcher. I have fought in the shadows in the darkest parts of the galaxy. Near the end of my life I foresaw that a youth would need my teachings to guide him through a dark time in the force, so I created this holocron. I carved it from the largest Solari crystal that I could find and deposited all of my knowledge into it and when I died I fused a part of my own essence to it. I am Revan as he was before he died yet I can still think and reason."

"But how can you teach me? I don't know how to use the Force."

The man calling himself Revan chuckled, "Boy you have no idea what you will become in the coming years. You have within you a powerful connection to the Force."

"You mean I could be a Jedi?"

"You will be a Jedi my boy, of that I promise you."

Chapter 1

6 years later

"You want me to what," asked the young man staring at the small holographic man emitted form the crystalline cube before him. At fourteen he stood an impressive 5' 7", with wide shoulders and a lean physique. His once blonde hair was beginning to darken into a brown at the roots and was now hanging down to his shoulders, when he didn't tie it back.

"Anakin, it is time for you to accelerate your training you have moved beyond using a length of pipe to practice your forms you need to build a lightsaber of your own. This is a skill all Jedi must undertake. It is a testament to your skill and it is a monumental thing to experience," Revan said.

Revan paced along the perimeter of his holocron. "You have been unable to find a suitable crystal to use to construct you own. So I want you shatter the focusing crystal from what remains of my lightsaber and use the shards as the starter to make your own in the furnace."

"Alright then, I'll start on it tonight when I get home." Anakin Skywalker stepped away from the holocron that had been his teacher and guide to the Force and the Jedi way for the past 6 years. He had come far in that time, a young boy lost in the midst of a sandstorm only to stumble upon a great treasure. Revan had changed his life. He was at peace with himself and in the Force, and his skills in the Force continued to grow as time went.

Early in his training he had difficulties controlling his emotions, so Revan had taught him of the code. The one version that Revan believed should have never been changed anyway.

Anakin chanted the code to himself; emotion yet peace, ignorance yet knowledge, passion yet serenity, chaos yet harmony, death yet the Force.

As always it gave him perspective and focus. He ran the short distance from the small apartment in the slave quarter that he shared with his mother to Watto's junk yard. The little blue troydarian had done well in the last few years between his junk yard and his gambling on the pod-races that he had Anakin pilot in on occasion. For a Human it was amazing that he had survived even his first race, but at 14 he had raced in over 16 races. What was even more amazing was that he had won 10 of the 16, the only reason he had ever lost the others was because he hadn't been prepared when Subulba the Dug's cheating and it had cost him those races.

Watto quickly came up with the thought that as good as his young human was he couldn't beat the Dug without cheating himself and withdrew him from any race that he thought he might lose money on.

The coolness of the morning air felt good on his skin as he ran the familiar streets to the front shop of the junk yard. When he arrived he began the morning routine he started the caff maker on the shelf behind the counter, turning on the vent fans in the repair shop, and set the droids to their daily inventory of the new acquisitions. Reaching into a pouch on his belt the removed a violet crystal wrapped in a piece of cloth, laying the cloth out on the counter. Reaching out into the Force he extended his senses toward the crystal probing for its fault lines its shatter point.

He found it, sending a pulse of force energy into the crystal causing it to crumble into fine sand in the palm of his hand, then added it into a container of aluminum oxide that he would place into the furnace tonight. The first customer of the morning came through the door, setting aside his project he walked around the counted to offer his assistance.

He was working at the weld station out in the yard repairing the frame of a rundown swoop bike when he heard Watto yell for him to come into the shop.

The troydarian spoke in Hutties when he walked into the main shop, "What took you so long boy?"

"I was repairing that blasted swoop bike that Lars brought in last week," Anakin replied back in Hutties as well.

"Oh good, watch the store for me while I help the outlander," the small blue alien nodded his head as he lead the old man out into the yard with a blue domed astromech following behind him.

Making his way over to the counter he poured himself a cup of caff, the most important thing in the desert heat of Tattoine was to stay hydrated and to try and stay out of the noonday suns. That last part he always had trouble following.

Turning form the counter he brought the mug to his lips taking a large sip when he nearly spit it out in surprise, the most beautiful creature he had ever seen stood before him casually glancing around the shelves of the store.

"Are you an angel," he said. He immediately regretted it. 'Of all the dumb ass things that could come out of your mouth Skywalker!'

"What?" She asked apparently he hadn't been loud enough when he blurted out his first thought of her.

"An Angel," he said again. Maybe he could salvage this yet. "I hear the deep space pilots talk about them sometimes. It's said that they are the most beautiful creatures in the universe and that they live on the moons of Iego, I believe."

"Well my, you're a funny for a boy," she giggled.

'Oh Force she's giggling I'm sunk,' he thought.

"So you work here?"

"Not exactly by choice but I don't mind it so much," he took another sip of his caff. "Would you like a drink?"

"Please," she smiled at him. "So are you a pilot?"

"Yeah nearly all my life," Anakin returned the smile and scoffed. "My mom has never been overly thrilled about it but she can't stop it. But ever since Wotto won us off of Gardola the Hutt and he learned that I could pilot a pod. Well let's just say I don't complain a lot about flying."

"You're a slave?" she had a look of utter disbelief in her eyes, a look of pure shock.

Anakin sighed, 'great move Skywalker.'

"Yes, I'm a slave but I am also a person. My name is Anakin Skywalker,' he straitened himself to his full height, looking her in the eyes, "And if things go according to plan I won't be one much longer."

"I'm sorry this is a really strange place for me," she looked down at the cup of caff he past to her. "We were on our way to Couriscant and our ship was damaged."

"Well I might be able to help with that I'm a pretty descent mechanic and I'd be happy to help you guys get things installed," Anakin perked up at the idea to work on a real starship, all he really got to work on were various engine parts. Well except for his side projects that is, the protocol droid, the pod racer in that he'd been scrounging together for the last 8 years, and not to mention the his lightsaber.

The pair continued to talk often laughing at the accidents that the gungan managed to cause constantly, they had been sharing a laugh when the long haired man and the droid made their way back into the shop moving quickly, "Padme, Jar-Jar we're leaving."

Padme set her empty mug down on the counter, "I'm glad to have met you Anakin."

"It was nice to meet you as well," he called back as she walked towards the door. 'Look back, please look back!'

As she reached the door she paused in the doorway and turned to look him strait in the eye. 'it is now official, I think I'm in love.'

"Damn outlanders, thinking they can take advantage," exclaimed Watto as he buzzed back inside the shop.

"Well the girl certainly seemed alright to me," Anakin replied with a smirk.

This made the fat troydarian chuckle, "alright boy, wipe down your tools and head home, it's been a slow enough day."

"Thanks Watto," Anakin knocked back what was left in his mug and went back into the yard.

He had already wiped his tools down and returned them to his bag which was waiting for him just inside to work room, grabbing it up he made his way out into the desert city.

Reaching out into the Force he tried to search for Padme and her friends and to no surprise he found her, out in the market about two blocks down. Smiling he made his way in their direction.

He saw Padme walking down the street next to the old man, for some reason he could feel a connection with him, like the old man would be important to his future. As he made his way past a food stall when he sensed it something was happening.

"This yours," asked a grisly voice in Hutties, 'Subluba' Anakin realized as he turned to find the Dug on top of the gungan Jar-Jar, looking ready to pound him into a pile of orange goo.

"Careful Subulba, this one is a big outlander," Anakin warned him in the same language. "He's got powerful friends."

"This is none of your concern slave," the angry Dug responded. "I can't wait till the fat one makes the mistake of letting you race me again, next time I'll make sure you don't walk away."

The Dug released the gungan and stalked away, Anakin smirked at his back, "Yeah it'd be a pity if you had to pay for me afterwards."

He reached down and gave the gungan a hand, pulling him up to his feet.

"What's this," asked the old man who was walking back towards them.

"Nothing much your friend here just picked a fight with a very unpleasant Dug," Anakin looked over in the fore mentioned Dugs direction. "He was on his way to being turned into orange goo when I got here."

"Not so. Mesa haten crunchen, dat's the last thing mesa want," said the strange being in his own defense.

"Never the less the boy is right, you were heading for trouble," the old man smirked. "Thank you my young friend."

"You're welcome," a sense of apprehension hit him; reaching out into the Force he found the cause, a sandstorm. Looking around in the sky he saw the storm cloud in the distance. "Hey listen I can feel a sandstorm brewing up, I need to grab something's for my mother at the market, but do you guys ha shelter?"

Padme spoke up for the group, "We'll head back to our ship. It's on the outskirts."

Anakin shook his head, "You'd never make it in time. Come with me, I only have a few things to grab at the market for dinner. You can wait out the storm at my place."

Making his way through the market he only stopped at a few stands, quickly gathering what he needed, paying and moving on. At his last stop he saw that the old woman had a number of ripened pallies', a sweet fruit that was grown underground. Grabbing a handful he passed them to the old man.

"Here you guys will like these," Anakin said smiling, they would go great as dessert.

Then he saw it, as the old man lifted his poncho. Hanging on his belt was a lightsaber. 'A Jedi?' it couldn't be, not here of all places. Shaking his head he paid for his purchases he turned and began making his way home, leading the group through the streets.

The wind started picking up as they made their way up the stairs to his home. Punching the door release he stepped in shaking the sand from his hair.

"MOM! MOM, I'm home," he called from the entry way. He saw his mother make her way out of her workroom and gasp in surprise.

"Ani, what's this," his mother asked.

"Some people I met at the shop, they needed a place to get out off the storm for the night." He looked back to the group, "this is Padme, Jar-Jar, R2-D2, and sir I don't believe I caught your name."

The old man stepped forward, "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn and your son was kind enough to offer us shelter."

The newly introduced Qui-Gon retrieved a bit of gold coin from a pouch on his belt, offering them to her with an open hand, "I don't have much but I think I can pay for a meal."

Taking the offered coins she smiled, "Welcome, you're more than welcome to stay for the night."

Anakin spent a few minutes helping his guest settle in for the night and dropping off his mother's groceries, at which point his mother scolded him. She hadn't asked for him to pick up anything, he had bought extra supplies using the money out of the savings from his portion of the pod race winnings.

"Anakin," came his mother's exasperated sigh. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Thank me with a kiss on the cheek and give me a hug," he responded flippantly. With a chuckle she did just that. Seeing all was well in the front of the house he slipped into his room activating the holocron as he entered.

Revan's hard eyes locked on his, "what is it boy? Something is bothering you."

"There is a Jedi Knight sitting in my front room right now," Anakin said as he made his way over to the furnace, depositing his crystal starter into the main compression chamber.

"Good, then you can accelerate your plan to win your freedom with his help," Revan clapped his hands together, his hopes for the boy were coming to pass finally.

"Not yet," Anakin said as he settled onto the floor. "I want to complete this task first. I'll start after dinner and ill show him in the morning."

Revan nodded his head; he saw where the boy was coming from, "Very well boy, it's your freedom, your plan."

Dinner was finished and Anakin's pallies were being enjoyed by all. Everyone was nestled around the table conversing on random topics until Padme had brought up the subject of slavery.

"The Republic doesn't exist out here, we must survive on our own," Shmi Skywalker explained to the young girl.

Deciding to change the subject Anakin asked, "So have any of you ever seen a pod race?"

He received a couple of head shakes for his trouble, though Qui-Gon did nod, saying, "They have pod racing on Malistare, very fast and very dangerous."

"Yeah I'm kind of a local hero around here, the only human that can pod race," Anakin smirked.

"You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods," the old man mused.

"Well I guess you would know Master Jedi," Anakin wasn't asking he was just pointing out the fact out.

Qui-Gon choked back a laugh, "Oh, you think me a Jedi?"

"It fits the only explanation that I can come up with," Anakin admitted. He didn't know for sure but he had a strong idea. "First you're Outlanders, you show up with practically nothing but the clothes on your back and Republic credits, you don't seem the type to be freighters or you would know that we don't accept Republic currency out here. That and the lightsaber on your belt was a pretty big clue."

"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him?" Anakin could see the surprise in his eyes, he hadn't thought someone might see him for what he was?

"Possible but it's unlikely. You have to be very good at killing to take down a Jedi, unless your dealing with some neophyte Padawan barely out of the temple."

Qui-Gon nodded his head, "I can see there is no fooling you boy. We are on a dangerous mission to Couriscant the Capital planet in the Republic."

"How did you end up here on the outer rim?"

Padme decided to chime in, "our ship was damaged and this was the closest planet that we could land on safely."

Anakin nodded, thinking of how he could help them.

"We can't make it off world without the parts that Watto has," Qui-Gon said. "Is there anyone friendly to the Republic that could help us?"

"No, but I might have an idea," Anakin stood up from the table and walked to the kitchen counter and grabbed a square tin. Walking back, he poured the contents out on the table leaving a pile of gold and silver electrum coins behind. "Everything on this planet revolves around the pod races, I've been saving this for a while, but there is enough for the entry fee. You can sponsor me in the Boota Eve Classic in four days. I have a pod that I've been building for around 3 years, the fastest ever built. It's ready, I was going to use it to win my freedom this next season, but if I can help you complete your mission, so be it."

"Anakin, I don't want you racing, I die every time Watto make you do it," his mother walked over to him placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Mom, I love racing and the prize money will more than cover the cost of the parts," Anakin pulled his mother into a hug. "You have always told me that the biggest problem in the galaxy is that people never help one another. Let me help them."

Shmi pulled him tight, "Alright, but you remember to be careful."

Smirking at his mother he replied, "Hey, It's me!"

This forced a smile to her lips, loosening her grip on her son she turned back to their guests, "I may not like it but he can help you. I think that maybe he was meant to help you."

Qui-Gon looked at the boy who had just sacrificed his way to freedom for them, the Force was drawing them to him and perhaps he was indeed meant to help them.

While the Jedi and his companions laid down for the night, Anakin sat in his room in meditation focusing on the crystal that was beginning to form in the furnace. Drawing on the Force he used a the technique that Revan had instructed him on years before, purifying the materials that made up the crystal, and speeding up the growth process, fusing the molecules together in a way that prevent shatter points from forming.

Anakin opened his eyes, while he was tiered mentally from focusing during his meditation his body was rested and refreshed. Sitting up he moved over to the furnace. Taking a deep breath he opened the main compression chamber and removed his new crystal.

Letting it set in the palm of his hand he could instantly tell he had been successful; the crystal had formed as he had hoped. It would serve well in his lightsaber, looking closely he could see his reflection in the facets of the dark crystal.

Making his way to his workbench he pulled out the wooden box that contained his nearly completed lightsaber. Allowing the Force to guild his hand he positioned the crystal in the crystal chamber and closed the casing. It was done, the Force willing he wouldn't blow himself up when he activated it.

'Well, this is where the fun begins,' he thought to himself as he stepped back from the bench and pressed the power stud. He heard a snap hiss as the saber ignited presenting him with a royal purple energy blade with what looked like currents of electrical energy running along the blade. It was complete. Smiling to himself he deactivated the blade and went to get some actual sleep, he looked at the chrono on the wall, he only had a few hours till his day would begin.

A/N 10 points to the person who can guess what is in the vacuum crate!

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N **thank you to everyone who reviewed and for those of you who guessed Revan's Armor and helm you guessed right. Now to clarify something before it becomes an issue later on, in my version of things Revan's Armor plates are made out of Mandalorian iron, a gift from Canderus Ordo before he went out into the unknown regions, so while the circuitry and any electronics are out of date everything will be modernized and upgraded. That said enjoy the chapter. **

Anakin watched as Padme and Qui-Gon made their way into the shop, it was time to let the old man convince Watto to let him race. Not that it was going to be hard, Watto was a decent enough being but he did have a weakness for gambling.

Speaking of which, "The boy tells me you want to sponsor him in the Race! How can you do this? Not on Republic credits I think."

"I have enough to cover the entry fee," Qui-Gon said casually.

"And what will the boy ride? His last race with Subulba smashed up my pod. It'll take a while till it gets fixed," the troydarian gave a slant eyed look in Anakins direction.

"Hey I told you it wasn't my fault, he flashed me with his vents and tried to slam me over the cliffs," Anakin said in his own defense. "I actually saved the pod."

This earned a chuckle form the blue alien, "that you did. The boy is good, no doubts there."

"I have acquired a pod in a game of chance, one of the fastest ever built."

"Well I hope you didn't have to kill anyone I know for it," the troydarian scoffed. "So I supply the boy, you supply the entry fee and the pod. How are we going to split the winnings?"

Qui-Gon stroked his beard in thought, "80/20 or if you throw in the parts I need, 60/40."

Watto quickly ran the numbers in his head before he slapped hands with Qui-Gon, "Deal!"

"Boy, take the next three days off to get this pod into shape," Watto's thoughts had turned to money, the boy could win against anyone except for Subulba so far but that was only a matter of time.

Anakin reached behind the counter and pulled out his bag of tools, "Hey Watto, do you mind if I grab one of the power cells? I looked over the pod yesterday and that is the biggest problem, no power."

"Fine, use what you need."

Anakin was down in the rear courtyard of the slave's quarters up to his elbows in engine grease changing the lubricant in each of the pods engines. R2 was helping recalibrate his fuel injectors, while C-3PO was helping where he could. The protocol droid was still missing a the coverings on his left arm but was otherwise completely finished, fluent in a million forms of communication and the protocols of nearly as many cultures.

Well only a few more tweaks till they were finished.

He felt a pair of eyes on him while he worked, turning he saw Padme watching his progress. Buttoning up the outer shell of the left engine he began wiping the grease off of his hands.

"Well all we can do now is charge her up and see how she flies," he said walking over.

"Do you think you can win this race?" she asked looking up at him.

He smiled at her, "If I don't then you're going to be here a long time, not that I'd mind. A pretty girl like you is something I don't think I'd ever tier of looking at."

Blushing she smiled back, "Well not to disappoint you but you come from a warm planet Ani, a little too warm for my tastes."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I made this," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small hand carved stone pendant covered in a myriad of symbols. "It's made form a jappor snippet and will bring you good fortune."

Taking it in her hands she turned it slowly in her fingers looking at each of the symbols, "Thank you, it's beautiful."

She slipped the simple cord necklace on over her head the smile never fading from her face. To his surprise she stood up giving him a tight hug and a kiss on his cheek before pulling away and running into the house leaving Anakin standing there with a look of shock plastered on his face.

Shaking his head he moved back to the pods cockpit plugging in the power charge that he had borrowed from Watto and climbing into the pilot's seat he primed the engines. Taking a breath he pressed the primary ignition. He head a few coughing sounds before the duel engines roared to life, another success.

It was dark by the time he made his way back into the apartment after his success earlier in the afternoon he had spent hours going over the racer, doing everything he could to improve the performance and to prevent any kind of sabotage.

Walking into the kitchen he saw a plate of leftovers that someone had set aside for him and quickly dug into the food. He had just finished when the old Jedi master stepped into the room.

"Master Qui-Gon," Anakin greeted.

"Anakin."

"If you have a moment there is something I need to show you," Anakin said. He didn't want to give up this secret but Revan was right, the Jedi would have to help him out. "I found something in the desert years ago and I think it's time that your Order was made aware of its existence."

Qui-Gon nodded and made to follow him as he stood up from the table, walking to his room. Flipping the light on, he reached up on the shelf above his work bench picking up the Holocron and turned to the Jedi. "You may have noticed that I'm familiar with the use of the Force. I don't exactly try to broadcast my gifts but I'm sure by now that you have noticed them."

"Yes I did," Qui-Gon admitted, giving the boy a wondering look. "I've been trying to figure out how you have been trained to the point that you have."

"You can stop wondering," he passed over the cube. "This is the Solari Holocron, it was made by a Jedi Master named Revan over 3,000 years ago during a conflict with the Sith. He told me that he had a vision of a dark time, the Jedi practically extinct. He decided to leave behind his knowledge to help those who would listen. I found it in his tomb about six years ago in the desert. He offered to train me in the ways of the force."

"And how far has your training reached?"

Anakin smirked as he reached into his belt pouch to reveal his newly completed lightsaber. "I only just finished it, but I've studied the forms, particularly Form V Dejem So. I haven't had a chance to practice with a real lightsaber yet."

"May I?" the Master asked. Anakin surrendered the weapon immediately. Pressing the power stud the Jedi studied the effect the synthetically grown crystal had on the blade. He then took a moment to study the craftsmanship of the hilt, simple and functional without useless ornamentation. "A well built weapon."

"Thank you Master Qui-Gon." Anakin bowed slightly.

"And how far have you come in manipulating the Force?" the Jedi teacher was now very interested.

"I can do a handful of things," Anakin looked down; he hadn't really focused on training his force skills. "I can do most basic things, telekinesis; use the Force to augment my speed and strength, small things. Sometimes thought, I can sense things before they happen but I can't keep it up for any length of time. I'm not sure how it works."

"Is that how you're so proficient at racing?" Looking up at the ageing master he nodded. "I thought as much. It's a Jedi trait. With training your reactions will improve. If you like in the morning I could work with you a while, see if we can build on what you already know."

"I'd like that." Anakin smiled, "I've been wondering what a real teacher could show me. Don't get me wrong Revan can guide me though just about anything but I could really use a teacher who can actually show me what I'm doing wrong."

Qui-Gon held in a chuckle, "I'm sure it's just a matter of focus. It usually is in most cases like this. Well I see you in the courtyard in the morning then?"

"In the morning then Master Qui-Gon."

The next morning found Anakin already hard at work, moving through the forms of Dejem So under Qui-Gon's watchful eye.

"Very good Anakin." The Jedi master moved over to the bench and retrieved a welding mask, "now we are going to work on how you respond to the blaster fire."

He handed Anakin the mask, who slipped it on his head, "with the weld shield down I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?"

The master stepped back a few meters before replying, "Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them. I want you to let go of your conscious self and act on instinct."

Nodding Anakin reactivated his lightsaber as Qui-Gon released a remote. Anakin took a deep breath and focusing on nothing, letting the Force guide his movements. He felt the remote shift its position and attempted to compensate only to go too far and receive a sting as one of the bolts struck his shoulder. Shaking of the numb feeling in his arm he reset his stance.

"Remember a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him," Qui-Gon said trying to encourage him. "Feel, don't think."

Taking a calming breath Anakin immersed himself in the Force, channeling it through his very being. There was nothing but the Force. His senses flared warning him of the incoming bolts, he moved.

"Very good, Anakin," Qui-Gon nodded in approval as Anakin removed the helm. "You learn quickly, if you continue to practice there could be no end to what you can achieve. Now let's head inside, today is a day of rest and tomorrow we can take a look at the course."

Anakin nodded as he gathered his things and made his way to the house. He was hoping Padme would be willing to take a walk with him around the city maybe stop to get a Ruby Breeze from the cantina, and if not he could spend some time learning from Revan, the man maybe dead, but he was a brilliant man. He was always hinting at different ways to manipulate the force.

The morning of the race dawned bright and clear. Anakin came down from his room rested and bright eyed, today was the day of the Boonta Eve Classic he couldn't afford to be nervous. All of yesterday he and Qui-Gon had walked this year's track, looking for blind spots in the holo feed where racers would try to cheat and get ahead in the race.

He felt ready; last night he had taken Padme for a walk around the city showing her the sights, such as they were.

She was so beautiful in the evening light, the warm glow of the sun enhancing the curves of her features; she truly looked like an angel.

He quickly made his way outside gathering up his mom's boyfriend Clieggs' Eopies; he had brought them in yesterday so he could tow his pod to the arena. He found his mother standing outside standing in the dawn light.

"Morning mom." He said walking over.

"Annie," she jumped as if startled. Turning she wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him into a tight hug. "Win today Annie, I know you can."

"I know mom," Anakin smiled at her, his rouge smile that always warned her that he was thinking of doing something that would absolutely terrify her. "This is where the fun begins."


End file.
